Story Highlights

The National Lacrosse League works hard to market itself, but try as it may to grab attention, generally it's a blip on the crowded United States sports scene.

So when it has a game such as Saturday night's showdown at Blue Cross Arena at the Rochester Community War Memorial between the Knighthawks and the Edmonton Rush, you'd like the players and the coaches to embrace the moment, rather than say it's just another game.

"You're hyping it up to be the big game," said Rochester defenseman Mike Kirk the other day.

Well, yeah. It is.

The two-time defending champion Knighthawks lead the East Division with a 9-3 record, and here comes undefeated Edmonton carrying an 11-0 record and some history all the way from Alberta.

No NLL team has ever started a season 11-0, and with another victory, the Rush will tie the NLL record for longest winning streak during a season, held by the 2007 Knighthawks. From Rochester's side, a victory would clinch a playoff berth.

It's not "just another game." As regular-season games go, this is about as good as it gets in the NLL.

"I don't think so, in my mind, definitely not," Knighthawks coach Mike Hasen said when asked about whether this is a bigger game than most. "We're playing against what right now is the best team in the NLL. We just want to come in and play our best. Records are what you look at when you're retired."

The pre-game hype wasn't flowing much more colorfully from the Edmonton side, either.

"It was a hard-fought game when we beat them at home (8-7 in overtime on Feb. 1)," said Rush coach Derek Keenan. "We were fortunate to get an overtime win, and it's not going to be easy going there."

According to the Rush website, no Edmonton team in any professional sport has ever won 11 games in a row. The Edmonton Eskimos of the Canadian Football League won 10 straight in 1955. And, incredibly, the great Wayne Gretzky-led 1980s Edmonton Oilers of the National Hockey League never won more than eight games consecutively, and the franchise record is nine straight wins in 2001.

"We just want to keep getting better, but this is a tough one and it's a hard matchup for us," said Keenan. "We just want to keep moving forward and not concern ourselves with records."

If there's a fire somewhere, these guys sure have some buckets of cold water to help put it out.

While the teams are publicly playing it coy the way teams are wont to do, fans should not be fooled by their reticence. The pre-game locker rooms figure to be energized, and this promises to be an intense battle between the two best defenses in the league. It very well could be a championship game preview, too.

Edmonton is on a record goals-against average pace, allowing just 7.7 goals per game, but Rochester isn't far behind at 8.6. The Rush's Aaron Bold and the Knighthawks' Matt Vinc are the two best goalies in the league, but they are augmented by fierce, athletic and physical five-man defensive units that make life miserable for opposing offenses.

"We're so close when it comes to that," Keenan said. "Little different style, but both are very good in the back end and have great goaltending. These are the guys with the trophy the last two years. It's a very good team, probably better than they've been the last couple years, so we have a big hill to climb this week."

Edmonton's Kyle Rubisch is the two-time NLL defensive player of the year, captain Chris Corbeil, Ryan Dilks, and Brett Mydske are rock solid, and Bold's save percentage is .814. Nothing comes easy against this group, same as Rochester, and it would be surprising if either team reached double-digit goals.

"They're doing everything well right now," said Hasen. "Their goalie is playing phenomenal, their D is second to none; high tempo, physical, push the ball up the floor, and their front end, any one of them can score. Just an all-around really good team right now."

The Knighthawks are unbeaten at home this year, 5-0, they're riding an overall four-game winning streak.

"It's a bench mark game," said Kirk. "We've put some wins together, but we have the best team coming in this week and it's a good opportunity to see where we mark up against them."

MAIORANA@DemocratandChronicle.com

Twitter.com/@salmaiorana

Edmonton at Knighthawks

Where: Blue Cross Arena at the Rochester Community War Memorial.

Time: 7:30 p.m.

Radio: SportsRadio 950.

TV: YouTube via The Lacrosse Network.

Notes: Cody Jamieson scored 17 points in the last two games and he now ranks second in the NLL with 71 points. … Dan Dawson ranks third in assists with 50 and fifth in points with 64. … Goalie Matt Vinc is second in the league with an 8.92 goals-against average and third with an .804 save percentage. … Edmonton's Kyle Rubisch leads league in forced turnovers (34). … Curtis Knight has team-high 22 goals and Mark Matthews leads team with 51 points.